Sofia is Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter and she now has her very own line of pink wine with her name on it. Lucky her.

I had no idea that Francis Ford Coppola had time to stomp grapes in between all the gangster flicks but apparently he is a skilled multitask-er, which means that he himself does no actual wine making but that’s cool and all so long as whoever does the actual work gets paid actual money.

I say the verdict is still out as to whether or not I like this wine, though I’m leaning towards the latter. Xavier tapped out after the first glass leaving me to ponder the rest of the bottle. His exact words were “It punched me in the jaw with tartness. I don’t think I’m going to have a 2nd glass.”

It is indeed a tart wine. I believe the grapes were fed a steady diet of vinegar and Warheads sour candy, which caused insanity and birth defects, but the glowing pink color is just enticing enough to make you think it’s good.

That doesn’t mean it’s not good but it’s out there in a no-man’s land of foreign flavors. Not bold enough to be red and it’s not sweet or crisp enough to be Moscato.

Cheap wine in a dirty kitchen. No counter tops were cleaned in the making of this photograph.

I suppose I should’ve know better but I decided to live cheap and dangerously.

This is Cabernet Sauvignon from yellow tail.

The price: $6.59.

That means no Mircale Gro for the grapes.

Now, to be honest, it’s not terrible, not pond water by any means, and it does start to taste better by the 2nd glass.

That first glass though.. it punches you in the throat on the way down which means it’s not very smooth and I figured out that this characteristic is what determines whether or not I like the wine.

It’s 13% alcohol so after the first glass, with the throat numb anyway, the punch is nearly painless.

While my review of this wine could double as zen wisdom for surviving a bar fight, it’s not all bad. If expendable income is tight and this is what you brought home to have with dinner, drink it fast, the pain is short lived.

Since I decided that I need something new to talk about, a fresh project to take on, and an excuse to get out and visit new places.

This idea was born today at lunch. I said to Xavier, “I want to visit wineries, take creepy pictures of their vines and talk about their wine.”

I had him at “wine”.

We were in Leesburg, VA with a car full of groceries when this happened so a winery trip has yet to occur but I do have a wine to review!

I received this bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Tarara Winery for Christmas.

Being absolutely candid, this is the best wine I’ve ever had……ever.

That being said, I’m hardly an educated wine connoisseur but what I can tell you is that it’s silky, rich, and smooth; lacking that feeling of being punched in the throat right at the moment of swallowing. It is very good when paired with dark chocolate.

Prior to this, I believed that I did not like red wine and mostly drank $7 bottles of Moscato.

Adam Conover claimed on his show, Adam Ruins Everything, that there is no difference in taste between cheap wine and expensive wine and, to be clear, Adam is wrong.

The Cabernet Sauvignon from Tarara Winery is a $45 investment and, take it from me – a drinker of cheap wine, you can absolutely tell where the extra money goes. I mean, I can’t say precisely where it goes; fatter grapes, Miracle Gro, aged longer in better barrels, more fairy dust and magic beans for all I know, but the difference in quality is undeniable.

In fact, it was this wine that peaked my interest in doing something creative on this blog that involved wine and writing and photography.

So stay tuned, more wine reviews are coming and very soon we’ll get out to visit a local winery!

d.Nelle Vincent. Seligman, AZ
I shot this photo in 2009 but I didn’t get it until just now.

It’s an Arizona Cardinal.

I’ve been all over the great American Southwest, to towns that time passed by.

Speeding down the mother road, a smoke in one hand and snacks littering the floor. Camera gear in the back of the car and hippie deodorant stinking since the day before.

I’ve climbed through barbed wire to explore the Lone Wolf Annex and braved the stray dogs on Backroad to watch the sunset in Madrid Cemetery.

I’ve been chased out of churches by natives with guns and told to go back where I came from.

I’ve heard the call of the void from atop Mt. Charleston. John Denver heard it too when his plane crashed into the Monterey Bay and more recently I sat inside by the window while Debbie Reynolds died of a broken heart.

I’ve been where you’ve been, down this road and that.

To every place left to wilt in the sun.

I’ve been away for awhile. Ventured to the east in the name of love but now our time here grows short and there is much to do.